1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jetting apparatus, and, more particularly, to a method for determining an optimal non-nucleating heater pulse for use with an ink jet printhead.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jetting apparatus, such as an ink jet printer, forms an image on a sheet of print media by ejecting ink from at least one ink jet printhead to place ink dots on the sheet of print media. Such an ink jet printer typically includes a reciprocating printhead carrier that transports one or more ink jet printheads across the sheet of print media along a bi-directional scanning path defining a print zone of the printer. The bi-directional scanning path is oriented parallel to a main scan direction, also commonly referred to as the horizontal direction. During printing on each scan of the printhead carrier, the sheet of print media is held stationary. An indexing mechanism is used to incrementally advance the sheet of print media in a sheet feed direction, also commonly referred to as a sub-scan direction, through the print zone between scans in the main scan direction, or after all data intended to be printed on the sheet of print media at a particular stationary position has been completed.
Ink jet printhead nucleating pulses, also known as fire pulses, are generated having energy, based on electrical power and pulse duration, sufficient to eject an ink drop from a nozzle of the ink jet printhead. Also, it is common to use non-nucleating pulses to heat the ink jet printhead to the correct printhead operating temperature prior to printing. Currently, non-nucleating pulses are generated by sending fixed pulse width pre-fire and fire pulses that are shorter in duration than a typical fire pulse, so as to prevent nucleation. These short pulses will add heat into the printhead without ejecting ink. Various algorithms are used to heat the ink jet printhead using these fixed pulse widths. Typically, it is desired to use the longest pulse possible to heat the ink jet printhead in the shortest amount of time possible. However, variations in ink jet printheads, even ink jet printheads of the same generally type, e.g., model number, forces these non-nucleating pulse widths to be shorter than optimal to prevent an accidental nucleating, i.e., fire, pulse from being generated.
What is needed in the art is a method for determining an optimal non-nucleating heater pulse for use with an ink jet printhead.